Despite success, work to do

STOCKTON - Members of the Pacific men's basketball team have believed they were championship worthy since gathering for training camp in October, and they have spent the first half of the Big West Conference season proving it.

STOCKTON - Members of the Pacific men's basketball team have believed they were championship worthy since gathering for training camp in October, and they have spent the first half of the Big West Conference season proving it.

The Tigers (12-8, 6-2 Big West) conclude the first half of conference play today by hosting UC Davis (8-11, 4-4) in the nightcap of the annual Pacific Plays Pink doubleheader at 7:30 p.m. Pacific is in second place in the Big West, trailing Long Beach State (12-8, 8-1) by 1 1/2 games. It also has two fewer losses than any other team in the conference.

"We're playing well, but we're a work in progress," Pacific coach Bob Thomason said. "Our depth is a strength and we have to continue to find ways to have as many guys playing well as possible. When our guys play well, we're pretty tough to beat."

Another strength has been defense. The Tigers are allowing the fewest points in Big West play at 61.9 per game. That's helped Pacific have the top scoring margin in the conference at plus-7.4 and overcome poor rebounding (29.9 per game, ninth in the conference). Pacific's balanced approach has worked on offense as the Tigers average 16.3 assists per game, while no one plays more than 28 minutes per game.

Senior point guard Lorenzo McCloud has been Pacific's offensive engine all season and remains the team's leading scorer (11.5 per game) and playmaker (3.5 assists). McCloud said the failures of last season (11-19) when everyone was adjusting to Division I and each other, have toughened the Tigers and made them appreciate this season's success.

"For us being in the position we were last year to be where we are, our confidence is up and we're in a good position right now," McCloud said. "This is a critical stretch and we want to control our destiny and be able to accomplish our goal of winning it. We just have to focus on getting better and better."

Junior forward Ross Rivera said everyone on the team is hungry to win this season and while 6-2 is good, he feels the team blew close games at Long Beach State (67-63) and at Hawaii (60-52).

"We've been playing pretty well, but we let two games slip," Rivera said. "It's become a great team atmosphere. Everyone is getting their touches, all we care about is winning and no one cares about stats."

Pacific won't get a rematch with Long Beach State until the season finale on March 9 and Thomason, who is in his 25th and final season, said the Tigers have to remain focused and keep improving for that game to matter.

Today, UC Davis will be seeking revenge for a 74-64 home loss on Jan. 5 that saw the Tigers score 51 second-half points without McCloud, who was injured. The Aggies have won four of six games since with sophomore transfer Corey Hawkins (19.4 points per game) leading the way.

Hawkins, the son of former NBA star Hersey Hawkins, scored 40 points in a win at Hawaii on Jan. 24 and earned national player of the week honors. Thomason said Colin Beatty, Trevin Harris and Rodrigo de Souza would all get a chance to slow down the 6-foot-3 guard, who had 19 against Pacific last month.

Hawkins' older brother, Brandon, began his college career at Pacific in 2008-09, but played sparingly and transferred to Fresno City.